Of all the animals on earth, which are the strongest for their size? What about the fastest? Who were the first animals to evolve flight? Insects take all of these titles and more! As the most abundant animals on the planet, insects and other arthropods affect our lives in so many ways. From beneficial interactions like pollination and biological pest control, to the transmission of life threatening diseases; this course will teach you about the big ways that these little arthropods impact our lives.
In Bugs 101: Insect-Human Interactions, you will be plunged into the diverse (and sometimes alien) world of arthropods to learn how they work, what they do, and how insects and humans interact every day.
After completing this course, you will be able to:
Describe the evolutionary relationships between insects and their arthropod relatives
Inventory major groups of insects and their diversity
Demonstrate evolutionary adaptations that make insects successful
Discuss insect biology and human-insect interactions
Evaluate positive and negative interactions between insects and humans
Propose practical and symbolic roles insects play in human societies

Avis

GL

It was a very interesting course. I learned far more about insects than I thought I would. I am finding them more fascinating than scary now.

SM

Sep 05, 2019

Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled Star

Great course! Please do another focussing on invertebrate classification. Thanks for your excellent efforts!

À partir de la leçon

Module 11: Insect Conservation

Many of us have thought at one time or another that the world may be better off without pest insects like mosquitoes. This module aims to change that view, as we discuss the importance of insect conservation and the variety of ways the changing world impacts insect populations.

Enseigné par

Dr. Maya Evenden

Professor of Entomology

Transcription

It was Edward O. Wilson who once stated, "If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed 10,000 years ago. If insects where to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos." Insects truly are the block we can't afford to lose from the ecological Jenga tower. They perform many ecological roles and are critical components of natural food webs. So it is vitally important to conserve this influential group of Arthropods. Efforts in insect conservation require adaptive approaches as the diversity and abundance of insects in a given ecosystem are often poorly understood. Furthermore, there are often multiple variables to juggle at once, due to the wide array of drivers such as habitat loss in climate change that can cause insect decline. We hope that this module has given you some valuable insights into the whats, whys, and hows of inset conservation. If you want to play your part in insect conservation, consider planting indigenous plants in your gardens, to provide native insects with the resources they need to thrive. If you don't have a garden you can always take part in insect counts and citizen science programs that increased public awareness about the importance of insects. In the next and final module of this course, we will have a look at what happens when humans not only embrace the importance of insects in ecosystems, but also start incorporating them into our culture through art, media, and even food.